Enjoy a delicious breakfast at the retreat center before heading to the festival with your all-access pass! 

Complimentary transportation will be available to you, on call, to get to and from the festival and the retreat center, if needed. All you'll need to do is reach out to your Trip Coordinators via Whatsapp and they will be more than happy to assist you! 

Enjoy a delicious breakfast at the retreat center before heading to the festival with your all-access pass! 

Complimentary transportation will be available to you, on call, to get to and from the festival and the retreat center, if needed. All you'll need to do is reach out to your Trip Coordinators via Whatsapp and they will be more than happy to assist you! 

After an exciting 2-day/2-night festival we will ease into our first day of the immersion experience with a guided morning meditation. Then, we'll enjoy breakfast at our retreat center and a few hours of downtime for rest or play. 

In the afternoon we will have an on-site lunch and networking event in order to meet the other immersion participants, the folks at Voices from the Lake and Heart of Travel, and a variety of other local artists and musicians. Here you will get the chance to participate in an open conversation with many of the artists that will play at VFL and at the same time meet promoters and key people that are driving music and the arts in Guatemala.  This experience will help you establish new connections that could lead to collaborations or future experiences in Guatemala and Central America.  

After our networking party, we will host the first studio session where you'll get to work one on one in the recording studio.

About Studio Sessions 

As one of the main sponsors for VFL, La Finca Studios is one of the great hidden gems for musicians in Lake Atitlán. The studio has amazing equipment and a separate space to record sounds from different instruments or you could use the time to polish your sound with the studio’s engineer.  You will have from 4-8 hours (depending on your package) of dedicated time in this space where you will be able to make the best out of your creativity.  All things recorded will be given to you at the end of the session for you to continue this process.  If you are a DJ, the space also has 2 vinyl turntables and a controller in case you would want to record a session as your studio time.  In case you are more an enthusiast than a professional, and want to take another approach to this space we are open to hearing your needs and will do our best for you to make the most out of this time.  The studio also has one of the best record collections in Guatemala in case you would prefer to spend more on listening or sampling!

Take the evening off to rest or explore independently. If you need a ride somewhere just let us know and we can assist you! 

We will start our day with a morning yoga class at the retreat center to stretch our bodies, minds, and hearts and open ourselves up to an exciting day of cultural immersion. After yoga, we will head to the town of Santa Cruz la Laguna to visit CECAP. 

CECAP is a training center that offers courses, certifications, training, and other professional development opportunities for members of the local community. Here we will enjoy breakfast and an informal chat. After our time at CECAP we will hop back on our boat to visit the town of San Juan la Laguna. 

In San Juan la Laguna, we’ll visit our friends at Casa Flor Ixcaco, a female-founded and run textile cooperative that is truly an inspiring and incredible example of empowered female indigenous entrepreneurs who are using their talents and traditions, on their terms, to bolster their economy and share their heritage proudly. 

During your time with Casa Flor, you’ll watch and participate in a weaving demonstration to learn all about the process from start to finish.

Afterward, you’ll enjoy a delicious typical lunch prepared by some of the cooperative members before visiting the nearby artisan chocolate workshop and the medicinal plant garden. This medicinal plant garden is run by the local midwives and it’s fascinating to learn about the work they do!

After our time with Casa Flor Ixcaco, we will then visit a local coffee cooperative. La Voz is a cooperatively managed farmer group with roughly 161 members, of which 61 are women who sort coffee cherries when coffee is delivered. The Guatemalan highlands produce some of the best and most distinctively flavored coffees in the world. La Voz's Arabica trees are cultivated under a rich shade tree canopy that includes many trees native to the region. The associate farmers produce coffee on small plots of land (1-2 hectares each) that are individually owned and maintained. Ripened coffee is harvested by family members and other coop associates. Sacks of coffee cherries are manually carried to the communal wet processing mill where La Voz's management oversees the depulping, fermentation, and patio drying. A coffee beverage is included after this 2-hour tour! 

Once we are back at our retreat center we will enjoy a private party! This is a small format event where you will not only listen to some of Guatemala’s best Dj’s but also be able to play yourself in the event if you are into Djing or performing live.  We will need to know more from you and your music to coordinate a spot in the evening.  The idea is to share great music with each other and enjoy great music as well with the people from the retreat and some special guests. 

Our creation sessions and cultural immersion continue on this exciting day! 

We will start off with breakfast at the retreat center and then split into groups for the morning activities. A handful of participants will enjoy 1-1 studio sessions, while the others will head to the nearby town of San Marcos la Laguna. We will all meet up at the retreat center for a special lunch put on Proyecto Tux. After lunch, the groups will switch and those who didn't go to San Marcos in the morning can go in the afternoon while others stay back for studio time! 

Later that evening, we will have an optional evening yoga practice at the retreat center before a free night to rest, relax or explore independently! 

Special Lunch with Proyecto Tux 

For lunch, we will have special visitors traveling from the town of Chichicastenango. Proyecto Tux is a female-led organization that seeks to educate people on pre-Hispanic culture, history and diet, and food justice. During this meal and presentation, we will sample a variety of pre-hispanic dishes, discuss Guatemalan history and most importantly hear about the community's feelings towards "big ag" and their proposed solutions for a healthier and more sustainable food industry that is nourishing for both the body and the planet. 

Cultural Immersion in San Marcos 

During our time in San Marcos, we will visit a variety of businesses, organizations, and community centers. 

As our time together comes to an end, we will make the most out of our last day as a group! To get things started off on the right foot, we'll begin the day with a guided yoga session and a healthy breakfast at the retreat center. 

We will then take a few hours in the morning for a community outreach brainstorming session. During this time we'd love to hear from you and your ideas of ways you could imagine creating a project, program, event, or any type of experience or product that could generate a positive impact on any of the communities you've visited. Likewise, if time allows we could invite some local leaders to join us in order to exchange ideas and have an open dialogue. 

We will then enjoy lunch at our retreat center before breaking into groups for a special closing session where all of the participants will collaborate together and be given their projects.

Finally, we will close out our program with an evening meditation session and a farewell dinner! 

After breakfast, we will provide a shuttle to take you to Guatemala City, the airport, or Antigua Guatemala. Likewise, you can decide to extend your stay for additional three nights, in which case your day would look like this: 

• Visit to Cooperativa Amigos in Santa Catarina Palopó
• Visit to Ceramica Maya Workshop in San Antonio Palopó 
• Lunch prepared by a local family in Santa Catarina 
• 1 on 1 Studio Sessions / Free time 
• Yoga
• Free evening 

For those participating in the extension, your day will be broken down into the following activities! 

Breakfast at La Deli 

Music & Art Collaboration Session

Lunch 

1 on 1 Studio Sessions / Free Time 

Closing Party